Hindus, Sikhs and Christians came out to protest the alleged forced conversion and marriage of a Hindu teenager from Mirpur Mathelo on Sunday in Karachi. PHOTO: EXPRESS

KARACHI:

“Give us our Rinkle back. Give us the daughter of Sindh back,” demanded the relatives of the 17-year-old Hindu girl who was allegedly kidnapped, forced to convert and married to a Muslim boy last month.

Rinkle Kumari’s relatives came from Mirpur Mathelo in Ghotki district and staged a protest outside the Karachi press club on Sunday. Christians and Sikhs came out in support.

The protesters wore black armbands and held aloft well-written handmade posters saying ‘Where should we go?’ and ‘Send Rinkle to a Karachi women’s shelter’. They kept up a chant demanding her ‘release’. One of her maternal uncles, Raj Kumar, said furiously, “Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Mian Abdul Haq and his men abducted our daughter at gunpoint. We want justice.”

The family claims that Rinkle was kidnapped from her home in Mirpur Mathelo by Haq’s men on the night of February 24. She was then taken to Bharchundi Sharif, where Naveed Shah, a supporter of the politician, forced her to convert to Islam and married her, albeit without her consent, they say.

On February 25, the family says, Rinkle refused to go back with the kidnappers while recording her statement in court. But, they say, the court ignored her statement and decided in favour of the other party when it announced its decision two days later.

“We were not allowed to attend the proceedings when the judgment was passed,” said Kumar. “The judge conducted the hearing an hour before the official court timings and he passed the judgment in only half an hour.”

Enraged youngsters from Rinkle’s hometown demanded justice and said that she should be presented before a court again or be sent to a darul aman till a court takes a decision. They said that the chief justice of Pakistan should take suo motu notice in this case.

Another relative, Ravi Kumar, said that videos were uploaded on YouTube in which Haq’s men were seen to be celebrating by firing in the air. He said that the forced conversion of Hindu girls was common in Sindh’s countryside, with around 20 cases being reported every month.

Another supporter, Daya Ram, said that initially the police was not even ready to register an FIR. It was only after a two-hour protest on the Super Highway that the police relented and registered a case.

While parliamentarians from the ruling party did not pay heed to the protest, a Muttahida Qaumi Movement parliamentarian, Munawar Lal, came to show his support to the family. He said that he would walk out of the Sindh Assembly if Rinkle is not returned to her family. “We are tired of picking the bodies of our children, and seeing our women being taken away by criminals,” he declared as people behind him shouted ‘Nai chalay gee, nai chalay gee, ghunda gardhi nai chalay gee.’ It won’t be tolerated, this won’t be tolerated, this hooliganism won’t be tolerated.

“Is this the same Pakistan that Quaid-e-Azam and our people struggled for?” he asked.

Ramesh Kumar, the father of a 28-year-old doctor, Lata Kumari, who was kidnapped last week from DHA’s Phase II, was at the protest. Lata was on her way to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Pakistan.

The patron of Pakistan Hindu Council, Ramesh Kumar stressed that Hindus were peace-loving people. “But sadly these conversions, kidnappings and extortions every day make our lives miserable.”

Sardar Ramesh Singh pitched in by saying that no religion allowed their followers to convert others by force. “Even Islam does not allow it. Then, how can its followers indulge in such wrongdoing?”

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Reader Comments (73)

As it is the non-muslims have been reduced to only 3% of our entire population.After we’ve finishded scaring them away,we’ll start killing each other.Ahmadis,shias are being targetted already,ismailis,bohris might be made the next target by the religious fanatics.if our society had stopped the hate and bigotry against the non-muslims earlier,perhaps we might have saved our country.

I feel horrible for her :( Why is our society so cruel to its women?!?! The people forcing her to convert should be hanged. I feel ashamed as a muslim because of these acts. These awful thugs are giving the rest of us a bad name. The civil society needs to get together and force the govt to make this act punishable by law!!!!

The question on the posters can be answered with a very simple answer, ‘India’. Leave and go to a secular country that accepts all religions, and Pakistan stay as the bull pit where sects fight it out until none is left.

Shame on the people who do these atrocious things! Shame on the authorities who do not HANG the perpetrators of such evil. God is a witness to the evil inflicted on a community PROTECTED under Islamic Law. God is a witness over such acts, and I pray that God punished the evil-doers and abases them.

The Honour of every Hindu family, is the honour of every citizen of Pakia. I swear by him in whose hands my soul is: today, I am crying while I write this. I wish God had put me in a position where I could undo this evil. Islam stands for respect for others, and bestows inalienable rights on all humans.

It is time the Paki High Court took up this case. America should give immigration to this young lady, and some Community College should give her a full scholarship.

I commend your humanistic sentiments. People like you should join these hapless Hindus on the front-line and help them get justice.

Unfortunately, these minorities will never get justice in Pakistan and lead a dignified life practicing their religion and culture. They should move to other countries. There can be no hope for them in Pakistan anymore.

The minority population has dropped from about 30 soon after partition to the present day 5%. That is a huge and telling reflection on the country’s unwillingness to protect the rights of minorities.

HINDUS arte also the part of countery there should be justice with them…..during this weak many hiindu girls has been kidnapped…i ppreciate TRIBUNE to publish this news….TRIBUNE KEEP IT UP….WE WILL BYCOTT THE PARTYWITCH WILL GIVE TICKET TO PPP MNA ABDUL AL HAQ? MAIN MITHO this is the voice of lll minorities of paksitan(e.g hidus,sikh,cristian….)

Dear Frndz! this is totally fake story made by Hindu Community. Indeed Rinkal was not abducted by any one. she escaped with her dream boy Naveed shah with her own wishes. Both fall in love since a long time ago. I know both of them personally, Naveed is known to me,I also belong to Mirpur Mathelo. I’ve come to knw that Hindus tried a lot to give bribe to the DPO Pir Muhammad Shah and Civil Judge who gave verdict that “as girl embraced Islam by her own wishes that is y he allowed Faryal (Rinkle) to live with her husband Naveed Shah”. As she embraced Islam thats why Hindu Community is doing -ve propaganda.

As the years are passing the condition of Hindus is getting worse in Sindh, Pakistan. Many of Hindu families of Sindh, Pakistan have migrated from Pakistan to India. The main reason of migration of Hindus from is Hindus is that their daughters and sisters are kidnapped and are forced to convert to Islam and their children are kidnapped and their parents are asked for ransom. Many of the Hindus are killed because their families were not able to pay ransom because they had nothing to give. Reffering to the incident that took place on February 24,2012 in Mirpur, Sindh that a Hindu girl was kidnapped and was forced to convert to Islam. The parents of that girl were helpless because all the politicians and Police of that city were involved in that case and even the relatives of that girl and her parents were not allowed to enter in court at the time of decision. All i want to say that we want help of Hindus of all over the world,Please investigate that how it was happen by support of Mian Mithoo MNA Ghotki sindh of PPP as well as check utube also that how MNA with his people to celebrating by fire in the air.

This is my Massage to whole Pakistani Readers that Please don’t comment wrong until u would not investigate personally. Try to understand that this is the conspiracy plotted by Hindu Community and they want to show to world media that “Islam is spreading by force.”

you still think its conspiracy !! We are crying for justice since 2 weeks but nobody is there to listen our cries !! if you doubt this story please search for related stories and evidences on Google, youtube and Facebook . you can have see plenty of videos showing how dozens armed goons of this PPP MNA forcing her to convert .

it is only because of rising intollerence amongst Pakistanis, we see conspiracy in everything.

@ MAK did u investigate before recounting the verdict that conspiracy plotted by Hindus.
Islam is a religion of peace it is proliferated because of its “peace appeal” and keep on spreading.(Insha Allah)

its people like u who are the root cause for not helping the minorities by closing their eyes! this kidnapping of hindu girls do really happens, muslims are no saint, they can be wrong too, so stop acting like a victim!

We could not conclude the real situation on the basis of one party remark, it might be; the girl would willing to escape with a boy. but it is totally insane if this would be executed by force because it is violation of both the human rights and Islam.

First of thanks to all humanitarian Muslims in pakistan. I agree with samir,the Hindus from Pakistan should migrate to India. At least here they will be safe. Dear Mac, isn’t it funny that every time we see a Muslim terrorist anywhere, some peoples started crying conspiracy theories!

This is the real islam. This is how Islam grew and Pakistan came into being. It is a cancer which spreads and gathers strength by infecting others. Just as good healthy cells become cancerous, so also good Hindus in Pakistan caught the cancer from Qasim when he invaded Sindh. Since then the land has been devastated by the barbaric tribal culture of Arabia.

This may be a test-case for us. Let Sindh Government should make unbiased inquiry of this matter. I am with our said minority, if this girl is really abducted and forcefully converted to Muslim and support all those people who are voicing against these attitudes. But If this girl herself give her statement that she wasn’t forcefully converted to Muslim then ET should publicly apologize on twisting these types of news items in a way that ignorant’ people may criticize the Islam and Muslims without having full knowledge of any matter they are commenting on.

most of Islam’s spread is attributed to such acts on one part and the brutal silence from teh otehr part; many of todays culprits had their forefathers undergoing the same plight before falling to such forced conversion; this is fact as no one can deny. the cheering and celebrating perpitrators are forgetting the horror of their fore fathers and should be branded as idiots having it celebrated instead of realizing.

Before MAK’s comments I was thinking if the story is true or false bcoz believe me few years back a Hindu girl in my city ran away with a Muslim lover & same allegations were put by that hindu family on their neighbour muslim family…that hindu girl was friend to my sisters & they met her after the incident & she was living happily but as a result that alleged Muslim family shifted to another city because hindus were continuously pressurising them… I m not sure about this one but it can also b the similar situation…

This was not free will conversion and proof of this is the presence of so many armed personnel outside the court room when she was supposed to get her statement recorded and none from her family was allowed to enter the court.
Provide her friendly Environment and give her that much confidence that whatever her statement, its not going to harm her parents and relatives but we all know this can not be possible while she is in the custody of that MNA.No Religion allows forceful conversions,

The people that are doing these things? are Muslims?? If they are Muslims only with name then Allah will never forgive him and if they are not Muslims why they are changing peoples in ISLAM forcefully??

Islam doesnt allow such atrocities!!!no one can force a non-Muslim to embrace Islam without his own free will!!!
@Agnivesh its really sad to see such things happening here in Pakistan…….this is not Islam this a feudal thought a mindset that has nothing to do with Islam!!! if so what you will say about riots in Mumbai in 1992 and 1993 ???they were Muslims?and what about Gujrat riots??were they Muslims?
@Rahul yes you are Pakistani and every minority has as much right to live here as any body else!!!

This is uncivilized behavior. I thought Islam was civilized? Kidnapping and forcing a conversion isn’t a true conversion as the heart of the person is not for it. No good can come of it. God wants your heart, a true conversion, not meaningless platitudes at gun point.

@aqsa:
Whenever such things are pointed out, Muslims as a routine point out to Gujarat, Mumbai in 1992 etc. Nobody says we do not have issues. But we do not kidnap muslim girls and forcibly convert them to Hiinduism. We do not as a routine get into mosques and kill people of another faith like the Ahmadis were killed. We have incidents years apart. 1992 is 20 years back and so is Gujrat some 8 years back. With you it is a daily matter. With us it is in riots where criminals take advantage; in your case common men are criminals who do this daily. Understand the difference? IRecommend

@rahul:
Bhai, you are absolutely correct…you are Pakistani. Ideally you should not have to leave your homeland. However Pakistan is not a place to live any more. It is becoming harder day by day for liberal Muslims, Shia/Ahmadi Muslims. Imagine how it must be for Hindus, Christians and Sikhs. If life, liberty, dignity and honour our dear to you, then your only option is living outside of Pakistan.

@MAK
Islam is the religion of peace. if from your point of view she is embrassed with Islam and currently living happily with Mr Shah, so please do one favor just support us to bring one time to her in court or infront of any human rights commision, if still she prefer to live with Shah. we will stop protesting and will never fight against on these kind of issues.
Dear you know very well that we minorities are soft targets for PIR and SARDARS.
i agree true cases also had happened when the yougester fall in love from both religion.
i am also witnessed of one case where my friend Pawan Kumar fall in love with Shabana in sukkur and decided to live together, ultimately both were killed and body was thrown in SIndhoo. so what is your opinion about this case??

““Is this the same Pakistan that Quaid-e-Azam and our people struggled for?” he asked.”

This poor guy is in such a pathetic situation that he praises the situation in 1947 relative to the current situation even though he probably knows that what happened in 1947 laid the seeds for what’s happening now. Its truely sad that it has come to this when people have to say things they clearly dont mean to survive because society expects them to say those things.

“Even Islam does not allow it. Then, how can its followers indulge in such wrongdoing?”

What a religion allows or disallows is rather complicated and ambigious. But what is crystal clear if you read history is that forced conversions were common and the norm when this part of the world was invaded by empires which considered themselves Islamic. People can bury their heads in the sands and claim that the religion allows or doesn’t allow this or that but actions on the ground in the real world clearly demonstrates what people thinks that the religion allows/disallows. The proof is in the pudding and not in a holy book.

ITS SHAMEFULL FOR EVERYBODY who know this had happened and still IS QUIT !!!
READING ARTICLE AND MAKING COMMENTS will do nothing to protect our HINDU BROTHERS …but THOSE WICKED will get encouragement that :::: ” YE QAOM KUCH NAHEIN KARTI KUCH BHI KARLO !!! , TO UTHA LO KISSI AUR KI BETTI BEWI YA MAAN !!! ”
SHAME ON US GUYS !!!
I PROMISE I WILL DO WHAT I CAN DO , kam se kam DIL KI TASALI TO HOGI MERE BHAIYON !
ALLAH HELP ME !!!

@ MAK, u r really a pathetic joker. Hindus are pressuring a muslim family in pakistan. So ridiculous. If we agree that she left home with naveed because of love then tell me does a girl of 17 years has the lawful right to leave home without the permission of guardian??? How court decide that the girl willfully married??? Another thing did Dr. Lata Kumari also fall in love of another muslim boy? Is there that much scarcity of capable hindu boys in pakistan. I am from bangladesh and i grew up listening the stories of cruelty of pakistani army & authorities before ou8r liberation. I am also minority so i feel the pain of minorities of pakistan. Thanks god i did not born in pakistan…..

@MAK:
I think you have gone mad. And very soon I am going to! Now I have decided. Whichever party is going to bring up this issue in the Indian parliament I am going to vote for them. Full stop! I am disgusted. I dont think I will be able to sleep tonite! The govt of Pakistan has to investigate this and get to the bottom of the story! What kind of men are these! Kidnapping a girl and a minor at that and celebrating with gunfire! Shame shame!!

@Cynical:
What can he do? In a country where govt is controlled by army, businesses are controlled by army, people’s lives are controlled by army, courts are controlled by army, where people like that Hafez Sayeed and Quadri are honoured, where butchers are army, jallad are army, where — I can’t continue because I will start abusing now!! And I respect my profession!

@MAC rinkal is daughter of one of the Bussiness man….. Do you think that she can love and marry to the man who is uncivilized and belonging to criminal family….. imagine yourself in place of her and then think about it……

All progressive parties groups must do some activity on 8th march (international women’s day) with emphasize on forced marraiges of non muslim girls along with other general women issues of our anti-women society. Please join Labour Part Pakistan

@ mak
what is our fault … i think this is our fault that we are hindus ..or this is our fault that we want to live peacefully or this is our fault that we don’t want to make any mistake any dispute in our country … or this is our fault that we live in pakistan or this is our fault that we are loving with everyone and with our country pakistan … mak just come and sit at the seat of this girl brother’s and then …………… i will ask that what is the meaning of kidnapping of sister
shame on you dear for talking with the favor of criminals

Thank you so much for your support, you will be shocked to hear that this is not first incident of this kind, Can you imagine 5 incidents have been reported in pakistan since 24th Feb 2012 . 2 amongst these 5 girls are very well known to me, one is this Rinkle Kumari my neighbourer and the 2nd one is Dr Lata who was kidnapped last week in Karachi.

According to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan 20 to 25 such cases are reported everymonth in Pakistan.

@Rameez:
according to the constitution of Pakistan “A Muslim is defined as a person who believe on the finality of Prophetess. This was a preplanned case to send bad image of Pakistan, the same type of story happened in my area, you can go to the PUMP HOUSE, DHABE JI, distt thatta , where a hindu girl ran with a muslim boy and her family blamed on that innocent muslim boy.

someone said, “you wont feel grief of someone till you yourself will not taste it”, every person has his own thoughts but once look at the condition of mother of Rinkle, to comment is easy but the person who is being suffered he/she knows someone has snatched earth from his/her feet
if someone have doubt on forcibly convert her then better to watch videos which are at Youtube where GUN MEN were present in court as well as out side of court in huge quantity… people said Courts have freedom to follow constitutions but this case have opened everyone’s eye that courts and police stations are still played by Politicians and Goons.even Media have not such courage to rise this issue, they are still under threats or something like that.. we are also disappointed with Media’s role, this was a serious injustice and was not given such coverage which it deservesRecommend

According to World Minority Rights Report 2011, Pakistan ranks as the 6th worst country after some African states with respect to safety and rights of minorities. The report is for everyone to see right here: http://www.minorityrights.org/download.php?id=1011

May God Almighty help the minorities.
All Christians, Hindus, sikhs, Ahmedis and other minorities are in the same boat. Abolish the Blasphemy Law and forced conversion.Where are our leaders????strong text

Holy Quran says “There is no compulsion in religion (Islam)”. I think we should stop bashing our country, religion and society. Lets the court decide wht is the reality wheter she accepted isalm at her own will or forced to accept it. We know our society that we dont accept marriages outside our cast.

On what moral ground we stand tht if she says that She accepted Islam at her will if its the other side we are wth our HINDU brothers. Stop propogating and bashing Islam and Pakistan.